Why Men Lie

Why Men Lie is about Effie, the fascinating sister of the troubled priest at the heart of The Bishop's Man. Effie has had her fair share of lovers and husbands, including the Gillis cousins from Cape Breton, who have been a source of as much guilt as joy. She first married John, then ran away to Toronto with the charismatic Sextus, who is still in her life despite her having divorced him years ago. But she's more or less given up on being swept away by love, until, in a chance encounter, she meets a person who might very well be the perfect man. And love once again rears its thorny head, with all its troublesome illusions, at an age when maintaining illusions is hard.

Even Effie, as wise as any woman can be to the ways of men, is unprepared for the maelstrom her new love affair will unleash. Or for the particularly male desperation and vanity that is its cause.

READING GUIDE

1. The novel begins with a passage from T.S. Eliot’s collection “Four Quartets”: Time present and time past / Are both perhaps present in time future, / And time future contained in time past.” Throughout the book, and in the very last scene, more passages from Eliot’s collection are...

PRAISE FOR

"A taut intellectual thriller that proceeds at a stately pace in the early going but then races at maximum speed toward its inevitable, and lethal, conclusion." Toronto Star"A novel for our time." Winnipeg Free Press"Powerful and compelling." Robert J. Wiersema, National Post"A nuanced novel.... MacIntyre can build suspense from thin air." MacLean's"Why Men Lie has the flavour of a peaty single-malt." The Globe and Mail"An impressively crafted page-turner.... Vintage Linden MacIntyre, and a crisp, compelling successor to the Cape Breton-born writer's first two novels." London Free Press